Police conduct search on Lilac Terrace*

More than half a dozen LAPD squad cars and a police helicopter (pictured in the video below) converged on Lilac Terrace near Douglas Street in Echo Park at about 10 p.m. as police searched for a weapon. Numerous officers with flashlights spent more than 30 minutes looking between the trees and bushes in the Lilac Terrace median strip. One officer on the scene said they were looking for a weapon but did not say what type. He said there had been no shooting nearby. Another pair of officers with the LAPD Central Division said the search was taking place following a police pursuit from a different location. They did not provide any more details.

*Update: A person named Chris left a comment to this story providing more details about the police chase, which apparently ended at the top of the hill where Douglas Street ends at Elysian Park.

“The car came up to the top of douglas and was “trapped” when it ran into the gate that closes off the park at night….. appx half a dozen police cars chased the driver- ……. some of us went out and talked to a Sgt– he said that the person bailed out of the car and ran- but was apprehended by officers who had – knowing the car would be cut off- ran up the hill from the lilac terrace end of Elysian Park trail– the name of the street that is closed of 3 pm – 6am Monday -fri and all weekend… we were told that no one was injured- and no one was shot- but that the person had a gun- and was in custody.”

5 comments

I live at the top of douglas st and this is what we saw— there was a police chase— the car came up to the top of douglas and was “trapped” when it ran into the gate that closes off the park at night….. appx half a dozen police cars chased the driver- ……. some of us went out and talked to a Sgt– he said that the person bailed out of the car and ran- but was apprehended by officers who had – knowing the car would be cut off- ran up the hill from the lilac terrace end of Elysian Park trail– the name of the street that is closed of 3 pm – 6am Monday -fri and all weekend… we were told that no one was injured- and no one was shot- but that the person had a gun- and was in custody.. the helicopter stuck around for only a few more moments after that encounter and then flew off into the night. none of us wanted to walk down the huge hill in the cold to see what was going on on LIlac terrace only to be chased off as the nosy locals we would have been acting like. the entire episode only lasted a few minutes from our vantage- but we could not tell how long- nor how many- officers were looking for the weapon…if in fact they still were after the Sgt told us the person with the gun had been captured. trying to be as detail oriented as possible- hope this helps…….

We live on the dead end of Montana off Douglas and this is becoming an all too frequent epicenter of crime. One of the big problems is that the park (Memorial Grove) is the responsibility of Parks but remains almost entirely unpatrolled. The roads around us are dead ends and the park is a great place for people to get high, get drunk, shoot bb guns, tag, smash car windows, defecate in the woods, leave used condoms. We’ve heard about muggings lately as well.

We call everything we see in, but I get the feeling we are the only ones. Is anyone else calling in the incidents they see? It’s a bad situation that seems to be getting worse.

Angie- Call OPS, officers of Public Safety. The 24 hour dispatch number is 213-978-4670. They are the most responsive with Elysian Park issues. Police will not enter the park after dark but OPS officers will. We live against Elysian Park and over the years I have diligently reported some of the bad behavior that you listed in your comment. Our section of the park is issue free now and I thank OPS for helping keep the park a safe place for the neighborhood to enjoy.

If you would like to organize to hold our politicians accountable for the violence in Echo Park that is sprialing out of control, please join our Facebook Group “Echo Park* Residents Against Gang Envolvement” (EP*RAGE).

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